LETTER: Scientific consensus favours human-caused warming

Black Press columnist Tom Fletcher claims my observation that “after thousands of years with a relatively stable climate, it is now in our hands, at this moment in time, as to whether or not we can stabilize the climate” is “false from start to finish.”

In contrast to this completely unsubstantiated accusation, my statement is based on science. It is the main conclusion of approximately 97 per cent of all climate scientists who have been warning the world for many years that unchecked emissions will lead to unchecked climate change impacts with catastrophic consequences, many of which can already be observed.

There is a growing number of peer reviewed papers with ever greater understanding of past and present climate trends. Marcott et al. constructed a record of global mean surface temperature for the last 11,000 years which shows a relatively stable climate until very recently. It shows that temperatures have risen steadily in recent decades and are now projected to head into uncharted territory.

The Paris Agreement signed by 175 parties (174 states and the European Union) is predicated on the goal to meet emission reduction targets and stabilize the climate before our planet becomes increasingly uninhabitable. This represents a big challenge and spewing misinformation undermines our ability to tackle this task.

It would be helpful if Black Press columnists would stop sowing doubts about human-caused climate change.